April, 2012 Archives
Apr
Experiment Over
by thegooddoctor in News
For the past couple of months, I’ve been using prompts from Figment.com to write my stories. What I mostly found myself doing is playing with the expectations of the prompt to come up with some sort of surprise or an unusual way of approaching it. This worked rather well, but I think many of my stories only succeeded in conjunction with the prompt. Although some did, many were unable to stand up on their own.
In any case, it was interesting to experiment in this way, but now I’m moving on. Starting next week, all stories will be based upon whatever inspiration happens to strike my fancy that day.
Thanks for paying attention. That is all.
Apr
Don’t Think Too Deeply
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
You can bet if anyone discovers your involvement, there will be hell to pay. Perhaps that’s what attracts you in the first place. The flirtation with danger. Or more likely, it’s the inevitable moment when you are caught and everyone’s expectations of you, their belief in your character, their assumptions about how far you are willing to go, will all be dashed.
Or perhaps you go along just because everyone else is doing it. You know you might get in trouble, but there’s safety in not thinking too deeply.
Whatever the case, murdering this homeless man will haunt you forever.
The Daily Theme from Figment for April 11
Think of a time in your life when, against your better judgment, you decided to give in–to temptation, to popular opinion, to someone else’s will.
Now focus in on that decision to relent. In second person, describe those moments of transition, using the distancing effects of second person to allow you to analyze your decision as if it had been someone else’s.
Apr
You Will Make Someone’s Day
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
It had seemed such a pleasant, trivial fortune: “You will make someone’s day.” Who wouldn’t want to make someone’s day? Janet cheerfully left the restaurant, ready to get back to work.
The smile left her face when she was called into Mr. Babcock’s office. He was an absolute terror to work for, and in any other economy, Janet would have quit months ago. She fully expected another tongue lashing this afternoon.
Instead, Janet went running from the office, trying desperately to cover her tears. Mr. Babcock’s final words were ringing in her ears.
“Firing you has really made my day.”
The Daily Theme from Figment for April 6
Write a fortune cookie fortune. Now write a story about a person who receives this fortune and then sees the prediction actually fulfilled.
Apr
Either Way, You’re Likely To Take A Beating
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
You are walking alone at night. The avenue is poorly lit, with violent shadows cast from the lone street lamp. You look about nervously. You’ve never been in this part of town before.
That’s when you notice a shiny gold coin in the corner of your eye.
As you are about to pick up the token, you see a gnarly old leprechaun jump out of the shadows, wielding a heavy shillelagh and threatening to beat you over the head with it.
Do you:
Stay and pick up the coin (turn to page 47)
Run like hell (turn to page 23)
The Daily Theme from Figment for April 4
You are walking alone at night and notice a trinket on the ground. It’s intriguing enough that you stop to take a closer look. You’re about to pocket it when something happens that makes you immediately throw the object back down and start to run…
Apr
Dueling Perspectives
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
I stumble down the street.
Everything about that night is pretty hazy.
There’s no one around. I’m completely alone.
But I couldn’t have imagined the gunshot. If everything else was a dream, that was real.
I look down to see if I’ve been shot. There’s blood on my hands.
I don’t remember seeing a gun. They said the gun was mine, but I don’t remember having one.
I don’t know where the man came from, but he’s lying on the ground.
I didn’t know until later he was sleeping with my wife.
The man is dead.
The man was dead.
The Daily Theme from Figment for April 3, 2012
Choose a significant incident in your life. The incident should be discreet, with a beginning, middle, and end (a date, a car accident, a major embarrassment). Tell the story of the incident by moving between two points of view–your perspective at the time of the incident and your perspective now. How are these two different? How does shifting between them affect the telling? Try to use these shifts in POV to show how your feelings about the event have changed over time.
Apr
The Wagon
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
Caroline stared up at the clouds on the horizon. Or they might have been mountains. Or cacti. She couldn’t say anymore. In the deserts of Utah, everything looked the same. Just like everything had looked the same in the plains of Wyoming, and everything had looked the same in the mountains of Colorado. Traveling by wagon had to be the slowest way to get anywhere.
Caroline wasn’t actually doing any of the work, and whether that increased her tedium or just allowed her idle nature to dream up mischief, she found their pace was becoming unbearable.
“Pull it faster, Daddy!”
The Daily Theme from Figment April 2, 2012
You are in transit, heading somewhere you’re either thrilled or dreading to go. Don’t explicitly say how you feel about it, but through your description of the destination and the journey, make it clear.
Apr
The Affliction
by thegooddoctor in 100 Words
The moment he was born, he’d immediately cursed at the affliction, causing the doctors to gasp, his mother to cry. The scientists argued whether he was a product of his environment, or his stars had preordained the shortcoming
His way of coping had always been to cover up who he was. Others accused him of turning his back on his heritage, of betraying his family, but they couldn’t understand what it was like for him.
Finally, when he became CEO of his company, he accepted who he was. Perhaps it wasn’t so bad being a white, protestant male after all.
The Daily Theme From Figment For March 30, 2012
After trying for years to change something about himself or herself, your character decides in an instant just to live with it.